Monday, November 30, 2015

Normally when I take a family out on a charter it's the youngest or least experienced member who catches all the fish. That got flipped around on Sunday when local angler Todd Goguen outfished his boys Tyler and Sam in the north end of Pine Island Sound. We were only using artificial baits since the pinfish and puffers are out of control right now. Live shrimp won't last ten seconds on your hook before they're chewed to pieces. Todd stuck with Gulps under a Cajun Cork for the whole morning and landed a handful of big trout, the 26" red in the photo above, and a 24" snook on his last cast to complete the Slam. I have to admit, it was very cool to see an old guy show his boys how it's done for a change. Nice job, Todd.

Saturday, November 28, 2015

Here's a few shots from yesterday when the winds were still gusting over 15 knots. It wasn't an easy day to be out there but we still made it work. Local angler Dr. Alejandro Miranda-Sousa landed this excellent Slam that included several slot-legal trout like the 21 incher in the bottom photo. All of these fish were caught on artificials such as Gulps and FlatsHQ soft plastics tossed right against the exposed banks of northern Pine Island Sound.

Tuesday, November 24, 2015

I'm posting this for a friend who's reluctantly selling this extremely popular, Florida built microskiff. This 16 foot Ankona Shadowcast is in like-new condition with less than 50 hours on the Tohatsu 20hp outboard. The current price is only $10,600 and you can click here for more photos and details.

Saturday, November 21, 2015

This is a shot from Thursday morning when we were pulling in the speckled trout one after the other in Matlacha Pass. As usual, these fish knew that bad weather was on its way and were feeding heavily before the storms came. This 20 incher was one of four that came back for dinner that day. Lots of wind and much cooler temps coming in the next few days so good luck if you manage to get out there.

Tuesday, November 17, 2015

Here's yet another excellent video shot and edited by filmmaker Dan Decibel. I was more than happy to spend of few hours on the bow of FlatsHQ owner Shelby Ramsey's skiff tossing Flats Walker lures at tailing redfish while the camera was rolling. The conditions were less than ideal but we still managed to land some beautiful fish thanks to these great lures.

Sunday, November 15, 2015

These last two days have been a real kick in the teeth. We just had some of the best morning tides of the fall which gave us excellent tailing redfish conditions earlier this week. The northern flats of Pine Island Sound were covered in reds on Wednesday and Thursday but Mother Nature had to toss a cold front at us just in time for the weekend.

If you're new to the area you'll quickly learn that north winds and negative low tides mean there will be almost no navigable water in much of Matlacha Pass for several hours. I saw no less than three different boats run hard aground today just because they missed a channel marker.

And any time Mother Nature hands me a few days with high winds and no water I always seem to have a hard-core fly angler scheduled to fish. Friday and Saturday was no exception and Idaho angler Doug Ott made the best of it. We landed a handful of undersize snook, a couple of nice legal trout, and the full Trash Can Slam of ladyfish, catfish, and blowfish, all on fly. I didn't take any pictures of those but I should have.

Several big schools of jacks have been ripping up bait just north of Matlacha and we were lucky enough to run into them on the way home yesterday. Dropping poppers anywhere near them drew immediate strikes. The jack in the last photo was a ten pounder and the only one we managed to actually land. It saved the day for me and hundreds of his buddies are still out there in Matlacha Pass waiting to be caught this week. Go get them.

Wednesday, November 11, 2015

Here's a shot I took last year out in Pine Island Sound. This is the famous "FiFi," the only B-29 Superfortress from WWII still flying. She's based in Texas but makes appearances at airshows across the country, often taking vets who flew the plane in combat up for one final ride. If you look closely at the observation bubble just behind the right wing you'll see two people looking down at the water. It was a beautiful morning and I'm sure those guys really enjoyed their flight.

Sunday, November 8, 2015

This is another video that has nothing to do with fishing but it's just too awesome not to share. It features the famous Swiss Jetman Yves Rossy and his partner flying alongside a massive Emirates Airlines A380. The aerial footage is jaw dropping but if you look at the background you'll catch quick glimpses of the enormous man made islands of The Palm and The World. These two famous projects have been criticized by environmental groups (of course) but despite that Dubai seems to be quietly developing a good reputation as a fly fishing destination.

Friday, November 6, 2015

I spent the day fishing for bonita in Tampa Bay on this boat earlier this week. This is an amazing machine and you can see in for yourself in two weeks at the Ft. Myers Boat Show along with several other Beavertail Skiffs. This is always a great event so be sure to stop by and take a look.

Tuesday, November 3, 2015

New York angler Chris Webber with a 26" snook caught with a white Flats Swimmer.

We've had some great high water right after sunrise these last few days and this is the best time to work the mangroves for snook with artificials. It's always a blast trying to yank these fish out from under the bushes after an explosive strike on a topwater lure. But one thing to keep in mind is that shortly after the tide begins to fall, snook will move out of the roots and settle onto the flats ten to twenty feet from the shoreline. So instead of pitching your lures right at the trees if you're poling a shoreline try shooting them off the bow instead. This is where most of the bigger snook will be hanging during the very low waters we'll be seeing in November.

Welcome to the Pine Island Angler. This blog is published from my home base on beautiful Matlacha, Florida where I run my guiding business Wildfly Charters. I started this site to provide regularly updated news about salt water flats fishing throughout Southwest Florida, the Keys, and many other Stateside and Caribbean locations. As a full time guide since 1995 I'm always looking for that next undiscovered spot or secret fly that will lead me to even better fishing and I'm happy to share what I find here on this site. I welcome any of your comments on all of my posts. Feel free to contact me with any questions by e-mail at gmckee1@hotmail.com or call me directly at (239)565-2960. Capt. Gregg McKee